Recipe: Easy White Sauce Pasta

Hi.

So remember how I told you all about how I should be done writing my manuscript this weekend? Yeah, well that never happened.

Instead I sort of got a job. At Chapters/Indigo, which is a Canadian retailer of books and book related stuff. Yeah, my wallet is in trouble (I already bought this today).

It all happened so fast and I sort of can’t believe it still. Not to sound cheesy, but it’s been my dream ever since I realised money didn’t just fall down from the sky and had to be attained by working that I wanted to work at Chapters. Exciting, eh?

I’m part of the stocking team, which involves starting at 5 AM every day. You might not jump when you hear that, but spending time with books instead of sleeping is actually kind of awesome. Plus, I get home by 10 everyday and have the rest of the day to be productive. Which I haven’t actually done yet…

But this recipe is so easy, you don’t have to have a lot of time to prepare it. When I was younger and was craving white sauce pasta, but had no idea how to make it, my mom would make this for me. After experimenting a bit in the kitchen, I’ve updated it a bit to add a lot more flavour, without a lot of hassle or time.

Hope you try it out and enjoy!

Easy White Sauce Pasta

Ingredients:

• 2 cloves of garlic
• butter
• 1 can of Cream of Mushroom soup
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 1/2 a 250g package of cream cheese, cut into cubes and softened
• 1/2 cup of cheese
• salt and pepper to taste
• Italian seasoning
• pasta

Directions:

1. Start by boiling your water for the pasta. In a large saucepan, fry up the garlic in a bit of butter. Then dump in your can of soup, giving it a good mix to make less clumpy. Feel free to use a whisk to break up the consistency a bit.
2. Add the softened, cubed cream cheese, and again, stir well to ensure that the mixture is smooth. Pour in the chicken brother soon after, and mix well to ensure that there’s no clumps or lumps.
3. Add salt, pepper, spices, and Italian seasoning to taste. Turn the heat down to ensure that your sauce doesn’t burn. Once the mixture is smooth, add most of the cheese, reserving a bit.
4. Drain pasta and toss into the sauce. Sprinkle with remaining cheese and serve warm.

So what do you think? Easy, right? Feel free to add small pieces of chicken breast to the recipe or shrimp, which is what I ended up doing when I made this. Just cook the meat or shellfish before, and then add to the sauce for a few minutes to coat it nicely.

I also obviously added some crushed peppers and black pepper, because I like everything spicy, but feel free to dress it up whichever way you want! To add some vegis to the dish, you could also easily toss some mushrooms (my favourite) into the frying garlic in the beginning, or add some baby spinach to the boiling pasta in the last 3 minutes of cooking. There’s so many ways to make this dish your own 🙂

It’s not exactly gourmet or an authentic Italian Alfredo or bechamel sauce, but by using stuff you probably already have in your pantry and fridge, you can create a simpler version. Smooth, creamy, and full of flavour, this shortcut pasta is an easy fix on those cold, Fall nights when you’re pressed for time, or are just craving some comfort food without all the fuss.

Anyway, I hope you try this recipe and let me know how you get on!

As always, thanks for reading,

Ikhlas